


The Blind Date

by Little_Plebe



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, First Dates, Humor, Oblivious Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers can kiss, Tony Being Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 04:23:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8607697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Plebe/pseuds/Little_Plebe
Summary: Have fun on your blind date. He’s tall, blond and right up your alley.
  
  - Daddy
Darcy rolled her eyes and stashed the phone back into her skirt pocket. Tony Stark was incorrigible. He did things like call himself her daddy and set her up on silly blind dates with jerks just like him. She smoothed a clammy hand down her denim skirt as she neared the restaurant where she was supposed to meet her blind date for dinner. A cozy little restaurant in Brooklyn was the venue.Darcy had no idea how interesting her evening was going to get.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, pianobookworm, for not letting me delete this story, for being my beta and for being so patient and amazing!

_Have fun on your blind date. He’s tall, blond and right up your alley.  
\- Daddy_

Darcy rolled her eyes and stashed the phone back into her skirt pocket. Tony Stark was incorrigible. He was simultaneously the best and worst friend one could have. Best, because he was extremely loyal towards people he cared about. Worst, because he did things like call himself her daddy and set her up on silly blind dates with jerks just like him. Tired of his constant meddling in her love life, Darcy had decided to agree to one last blind date and then threaten to quit her job at SI if Tony didn’t leave her alone.

She smoothed a clammy hand down her denim skirt as she neared the restaurant where she was supposed to meet her blind date for dinner. Despite Tony’s flair for elegance and showmanship, he had selected a cozy little restaurant in Brooklyn as the venue. It had a pleasantly dim interior and the tables were set far apart, lending patrons a sense of privacy. Darcy definitely approved as she peered through the glass doors, her eyes searching for her blind date.

“Move it, lady,” someone barked from behind and Darcy pushed open the doors and scurried inside, turning back once to throw a glare at the rude person who had forced her in.

Her eyes scanned the occupied tables and stopped abruptly when they landed on a familiar face. Dressed smartly in a blue shirt and khaki pants, he was hunched over a paper napkin, sketching. More than a little surprised, Darcy walked up to him and rapped her knuckles on the table.

“Steve?”

He looked a bit annoyed at being disturbed but his eyes fairly lit up when he saw her. “Darcy?”

Darcy laughed and hugged him when he stood up to greet her. Judging by his expression, she guessed he didn’t know about her as well.

“What are you doing here?” he asked when she pulled back and settled down on the chair opposite him.

“Tony is such a weirdo,” she said as a way of reply. “I can’t believe he set me up with you.”

Steve looked nonplussed. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I’m your blind date, silly,” said Darcy, eyes twinkling. “I was supposed to come here and meet you.”

“You were?”

His confusion at the entire situation was so adorable that Darcy wanted to lean forward and pinch his cheeks. He appeared to be as blindsided as she was, which was understandable because it was perplexing that Tony had thought to set them both up. Steve and Darcy were friends. There had never been anything going on and neither had shown any romantic interest in the other in the past three months that they had known each other. Tony knew that and, yet, he had played them into this date.

“You know what,” said Darcy, making up her mind. “Tony can go screw himself. We can have fun at his expense, right?”

She would give him a piece of her mind when she returned to the tower but at the moment, all dolled up and full of fading anticipation, Darcy wasn’t going to think about the fact that her blind date was a bust (as usual) and that it was just Steve sitting before her, eyeing her in nervous bemusement. She would order something nice to eat, splurge a portion of Tony’s money on wine, dessert and perhaps a useless gift for herself (like a vacation home in Hawaii) and later she would go back to the tower with her friend— _not_ date—Steve Rogers.

“Tony told you I’m your blind date?”

He was still stuck on that. Darcy sighed and shook her head.

“It wouldn’t be a blind date if I had known it was you, Steve. Keep up.”

“Right.”

“Forget this is a date, all right?” instructed Darcy. “Let’s just kick back and relax like we always do. And when we see Tony again, we can give him a dressing down.”

He bit his lip and looked conflicted as he considered her idea. His eyes swept over the seating area several times before he looked back at Darcy and nodded slowly.

“Okay,” he said and pushed the menu toward her. “You must be hungry.”

“Absolutely,” said Darcy, pouncing on the menu and opening it to browse the recipes. “I spent the entire afternoon primping myself up like a desperate wannabe and look where I ended up. I don’t even know why I try. Tony is always setting me up with jerks like him.”

“Really?” Steve fingered the paper napkin he had been sketching on earlier and surreptitiously stuffed it into his pant pocket when Darcy wasn’t looking.

Darcy nodded absently, eyes still on the menu. “The only difference between him and them is that Tony is a genius, he has a girlfriend and he knows his limits. I know that basically makes him _not_ a jerk but get with me on this, okay?”

“I know what you mean. Tony _is_ kind of a jerk.”

“Exactly. So anyway, some of my blind dates were okay. We had fun, parted on good terms. But most of them were awful and I feel like I haven’t voiced my displeasure enough for Tony to understand that I don’t need his help. You know?” Before Steve could reply, she announced, “I’m going to have the crispy chicken and Alfredo pasta… _and_ a fruit plate _and_ wine. What about you?”

“That’s a big order,” noted Steve, signaling the server.

“I deserve it,” said Darcy, checking to see if there was anything else she wanted. “And I intend to waste quite a bit of Tony’s money on this non-date.”

Their server walked up to their table with a warm smile on his face. “What can I get for you, sir, ma’am?”

Darcy recited her order and looked at Steve.

“Lasagna,” he said. “Large.”

“Very good, Mr. Rogers.”

Darcy raised her eyebrows after the man left. “You come here often?” she asked Steve.

He nodded. “I like this place. The manager knows me and the staff is pretty decent. They don’t ogle me or ask for my number.”

“Interesting definition of _decent_ ,” said Darcy. “You have surprisingly low standards.”

“Not that surprising when you think about it,” he said with a crooked smile.

Something fluttered low in Darcy’s stomach and she blinked. Boy, she must be really hungry.

“So tell me more about these dates you’ve been going on. I have to ask, what do people do on dates?”

Darcy stared at him in surprise. “You’ve never been on a date?”

He didn’t look the least bit embarrassed as he shook his head and Darcy was kind of impressed. “Never had a chance, I guess. Plus, I’ve never really met anyone I’d be interested in talking to for more than five minutes.”

Darcy refrained from pointing out that he liked to talk to Natasha and Pepper and that he had definitely held longer-than-five-minute conversations with Darcy in the past.

Steve continued, “So I can’t imagine what people talk about when they’re on a date. Sounds boring, really, unless you’re into that person.”

Darcy sat back and chewed on her lip as she thought about it. “You’re right,” she said slowly. “It _is_ boring when it doesn’t work out. But sometimes, you meet someone and you just click, you know.” She snapped her fingers and leaned forward, placing her arms on the table as she continued eagerly, “That spark’s there and it’s not boring or awkward anymore and you want the day to never end when you’re with that person. You can’t really know that unless you go out on dates… meet new people.”

“I meet new people all the time,” Steve reminded her.

Darcy rolled her eyes. “Tony’s guests at his lavishly thrown parties don’t count. Some of them do,” she conceded. “But I know what his so called party friends are like. They’re just there for the show and the glamour.” She paused and narrowed her eyes at him. “The villains you meet during a fight don’t count either.”

Steve grinned. “What about the people I save from said villains?”

“Steve, I’m being serious!”

“All right, fine. I’ll be serious, too.” He arranged his face into a broody frown and stared gravely into Darcy’s eyes.

She threw up her hands in exasperation. “You’re just like Tony.”

He looked amused. “What do you want me to say?”

“Say you agree with me. Say you’ll go out on dates,” insisted Darcy. “Say you’ll get yourself a nice girlfriend who won’t freak out at the sight of your torn, bloodied uniform after a fight; who will cheer you up when you’re down; who will hang out with the other Avengers without swooning; who will…” she trailed away, thinking hard. She remembered staying up with Steve in the Avengers common room after a particularly terrible nightmare had woken him up. It was a while ago but she remembered it as if it had been yesterday. “… who will chase away your nightmares and—”

“Darcy.” The soft, firm way with which he said her name made her stop talking immediately. “I think I know who you’re talking about.”

“You do?” At his slight nod, she leaned forward, practically draping herself over the table as she tried to get closer to him. “Who is it?” she whispered. “She’s from SI, isn’t she? Have you talked to her before?”

His lips curved into an amused smile and he leaned forward as well, whispering conspiratorially, “I have.”

Darcy gasped comically. “You dog!”

Steve sat back and laughed openly. Yet again, Darcy felt the strange fluttering in her stomach and she bit back a growl. Where was their frikking order?!

As if on cue, their server appeared with a trolley. He placed the chicken, pasta and fruit plate in front of Darcy and the lasagna before Steve. Then he proceeded to sample the restaurant’s finest and most expensive wine to the couple. Darcy took one sip of the red liquid and coughed loudly, spraying some on the table and in their food.

“This is terrible,” she told the server, her voice raspy and face scrunched up in disgust. “We’ll take it.”

The server glanced at Steve, silently confirming Darcy’s sanity. Steve merely nodded. “Do as she says. Leave the bottle.”

Darcy had already started digging into her crispy chicken without waiting for Steve. “Oh God, this is so good,” she spoke around the food in her mouth. “My stomach’s been feeling really weird since I saw you in here.” She paused and blinked. “I mean, since before I came here. I mean, since this morn—never mind. Let me eat in peace, dammit.”

Steve bit back a smile. “I didn’t say anything.”

They ate in silence for a few comfortable minutes before Darcy came up for air and gave Steve a speculative look. “Continuing our previous conversation—and jokes aside—what are you going to do about your woman?”

“She’s not my woman.”

“You should take her out. Ask her on a date,” said Darcy, undeterred.

“I’m sure her schedule’s pretty full,” said Steve nonchalantly. “She’s really into the… dating game.”

“Oh.” Darcy felt a frown mar her features. “She’s that kind of person.”

Steve paused to fix his blue eyes on her. “No, she’s not,” he said firmly.

Darcy winced, regretting her words. She shouldn’t be so quick to judge. Steve probably knew that woman better than Darcy did. In fact, if she thought about it, Darcy dated a lot, too. That didn’t make her _that_ kind of a person, did it? Feeling guilty, she threw him an apologetic look which he graciously accepted and went back to demolishing his lasagna.

“So what are you going to do?” persisted Darcy. She couldn’t help it. She needed more details. She heard a lot of things staying with Tony all day and being friends with the likes of Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton. All three of them were terrible gossips—well, at least Tony had to be, so that he could know what went on in his tower at all times.

“Nothing,” replied Steve, taking a sip of the disgusting wine and managing to not retch. “I don’t think she’s interested. Besides, I wouldn’t know what to say to her. What if we run out of things to talk about?”

“Fair point,” said Darcy with a nod. She believed him.

Steve was hopeless with women. She remembered the first time they had met. She had just moved into Stark Tower and asked him directions to the labs. He had stuttered and fidgeted nervously the entire time they had spoken, which wasn’t more than a minute. Interestingly enough, he was pretty calm around Natasha, Pepper, Jane or Maria Hill. And she had never seen him get tongue-tied with any of Tony’s so called party friends of the female variety. He had perfected the polite but distant routine. But every now and then, he would stumble over his words when talking to a woman and Darcy would find it inexplicably endearing. 

“Is everything all right?” she asked him.

He was sweeping his eyes around the restaurant again. She had caught him doing that more than twice already. What or who was he looking for?

His distracted gaze snapped back to attention and he nodded. “How’s your food?”

Darcy didn’t think much of his diverting tactics but decided to play along. “A++ … would come here again.”

A pleased smile stretched across his face. “Then, we would run into each other often.”

“Is that so?” asked Darcy, amused.

“Uh-huh. This place is open 24/7. Isn’t it great? The waffles they serve for breakfast are out of this world.”

“I bet.” She looked down at her plate and found it empty. She had already devoured the pasta and fruit plate but she remembered saving two pieces of crispy chicken for the end of the meal.

“What’s wrong?” asked Steve.

Darcy looked up. He was eating her chicken. “Thief!”

He snickered and popped the remaining bite in his mouth. “You can prove nothing.”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the bottle of wine, taking a big gulp and setting it back on the table with a loud thump. “Let’s get out of here.”

“You want to go back to the tower?”

She thought she heard disappointment in his voice but when she looked at him, he merely seemed curious. He was crazy if he thought she would go home so early on a Saturday. Darcy held the record for not being back before midnight on Saturdays. Even when she didn’t have a date or wasn’t with friends, she found something to do. There was no way she was ever breaking her record.

“No, I was thinking we could walk around,” she replied, feeling a strange hitch in her voice as she suggested a walk together. “You could show me around Brooklyn or we could… I don’t know.”

Either he really liked her company enough to spend a good portion of his free time with her or else he had nothing better to do and no one cooler to hang out with, because Steve nodded. “Okay,” he said, getting to his feet. “We could do that.”

Her stomach fluttered again but this time, Darcy didn’t pay it much mind. It was probably the bad wine. She stood up and followed him to the door. He signaled something to the server on their way out and Darcy remembered that they hadn’t paid.

“Steve, we forgot to pay the bill!”

“They’ll put it on my tab,” he said, holding the door open for her. Darcy frowned as they stepped out, her head swiveling to glance at the server again. He was standing right there, looking after them with a smile on his face. Darcy couldn’t decide if it was creepy or kind.

“This was supposed to be Tony’s treat,” she complained petulantly, making Steve chuckle.

“No problem. I’ll tell them to bill it to Stark. Happy?”

Darcy smirked. “Very. Now where are we going?”

“Well,” uttered Steve, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “I was thinking maybe I could show you where I used to live in the forties... if you want, that is.”

Darcy took her time registering what he had just suggested, more than a little surprised at his readiness to share something about him with her. Steve was a private person. In all the time they had spent together at the tower—which wasn’t a lot—they had never talked about things that truly mattered. They usually made small talk, joked around, Darcy complained about her work, once or twice she had sat with him after his nightmares, he had saved her life once and that’s about it. They never talked about their past, their hopes for the future, their feelings… and Darcy suddenly found that she really wanted to know. She wanted to know Steve and everything about him.

Blushing a little at the unexpected thought, she nodded approvingly. “I’d like that.”

“Okay. Good,” exhaled Steve, looking less unsure now that she had agreed.

Darcy smiled. A shiny bike parked across the road drew her attention and she automatically began walking toward it. But Steve placed a hand on her back and steered her in the opposite direction.

“You wanted to walk around, didn’t you?” he asked her.

“Yes, but…”

“We’ll come back for it,” he assured her with a grin.

Darcy turned to gaze at his bike again. She had never told him but she found it really hot, especially when he was riding it. Seeing Steve ride his bike did stuff to her brain. Seeing him spar in the gym also had the same effect. In fact, he had made her brain turn into goo on a lot of occasions in the past and Darcy was used to the feeling. She had long ago realized that, being the epitome of all things nice and attractive, Steve was supposed to have that effect on people. He wouldn’t be Steve if he didn’t.

It was fine. It was normal. It didn’t mean she was interested in him as more than a friend.

Being with Steve had always been easy. They walked for a while, talking about anything and everything. Steve pointed out places that he had been closely associated with in his childhood, told her about the areas that had changed the most during his tenure in the Arctic and he also favored her with anecdotes about Bucky and what the two boys got up to when they were young. At one point, he stopped in front of an alley and informed her, “I got beat up pretty bad in here once.” Darcy looked at him in horror and he laughed at the expression on her face, pulling her to him in a brief side-hug.

A handful of people, out enjoying their weekends with their loved ones, recognized Steve and came up for his autograph. He was polite to all of them, asking them their names and where they lived and they swooned over him, even the men. Steve refused to pose for photographs but gamely accepted hugs, ignoring the occasional lingering touches and brushing fingers. Darcy wanted to feel sorry for him but she honestly didn’t. He was doing quite well handling fame.

“Sorry you had to see that,” he told her with a grimace once they were left alone.

“This is nothing. This was a dream,” said Darcy. “I’ve seen people do their worst with you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Sure. Remember the handkerchief incident with Senator Tully’s wife at Tony’s last bash?”

Steve frowned. “The one where she kept dropping things and I was forced to pick—oh!”

“Figured it out, didn’t you? Took you long enough.”

Darcy grinned at his expression of dawning horror and he slapped a hand to his face. “That wasn’t accidental dropping, was it?”

“Nope. Very deliberate. I’m afraid you might just have made her day,” teased Darcy, taking a step back and purposely staring at his posterior.

Steve looked defensive. “How would I have known about her schemes? She’s someone’s wife and she is _old_!”

“So are you,” Darcy reminded him, earning an eyeroll for her efforts.

“That’s the argument you’re going to make?”

“It’s not an argument if it’s true.”

His lips twitched but he managed to contain his amusement at her in favor of more important things, like—

“I hate this body,” he mumbled comically, stomping away from her. Darcy ran to keep up with him. “It was better when I was skinny and five feet tall.”

“What’s the difference?” Darcy asked.

Steve paused in his tracks to shoot her an incredulous look. “What?”

Darcy continued boldly, “You went from one extreme to another. But you, as a person, didn’t change. You’d still be a kind, polite man and you’d still be fighting bad guys if you were skinny and five feet tall. So what’s the difference?”

“Darcy…”

“People see what they want to see, Steve. They didn’t see the real you before the serum and they don’t see the real you after it. It’s when you find someone willing to look past the exterior that you’ll realize it doesn’t matter if you’re tall or short, fat or skinny, handsome or ugly. What matters is always on the inside, that which is not easily visible.”

She finished her little monologue to see Steve staring at her in wonder. He didn’t say anything for a long minute and Darcy fidgeted, wondering if she had crossed a line. Feeling a bit embarrassed, she looked at him sheepishly.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to get carried away.”

He shook his head, still staring at her in a way that made breathing difficult. “It’s fine,” he began hoarsely, then cleared his throat and tried again, “You’re right.”

“Yeah?”

“Definitely,” he agreed, voice firmer this time. “I didn’t mean what I said. I like how I look now just fine.” He paused and Darcy saw a playful twinkle light up his eyes. “And I have to admit, this body has perks.”

“You mean the fighting and the immunity.”

Steve grinned. “Among other things.”

It didn’t take too long to grasp his meaning and Darcy burst into laughter, smacking him on one bulging bicep. “Why, Captain Rogers, I didn’t peg you for a tease.”

“I have many hidden talents,” he informed her with a serious face.

“And what, pray tell, are they?”

“Keep being nice to me and you may find out,” quipped Steve, making her laugh more.

“You’re a scoundrel.”

“Not always.”

“Why now?”

“You bring out the best in me.”

“Liar.”

And the conversation continued as they started walking again. Steve was charming in their banter, open and relaxed like he had never been with her before. Darcy found herself opening up, too. She told him about her goth phase in high school, about life at Culver, about having parents who constantly moved around in search for adventure.

“They’re in Germany right now, probably planning to dive down the Rhine Falls or something.”

Steve nodded like it made sense to him, like it wasn’t crazy at all, then Darcy realized that he had been to Germany and maybe he found it as fascinating and beautiful as her parents did.

When they reached Steve’s old neighborhood, their pace slowed and the conversation slowly died. Darcy looked up when he stopped walking abruptly, his eyes staring straight ahead and his chest heaving with one long, slow breath. She followed his gaze. They were standing at the threshold of a small cobbled stone street and, in the flickering yellow glow of the street light, she could see the wistfulness on Steve’s face, the clear longing and nostalgia that she had never gotten to witness because she had never paid attention, never asked him about his life, instead relying on history books and Natasha to know everything important there was to know about Steve.

But, in that moment, as she stared up at him unabashedly in the silence of the night, Darcy realized how much she had meant what she had told him earlier, about people seeing what they wanted to see. Steve was so much more than what people made him to be. He had so much to offer aside from his mad fighting and leadership skills during alien invasions. He wasn’t just a soldier or a nice guy who sometimes referred to women as dames but he was also a person just like Darcy, a person with feelings, insecurities, fears, passions and a lot more. Considering her stand on the topic as she had demonstrated earlier, she felt incredibly foolish and rather selfish to have never given him a chance to show her who he really was.

Steve started when she hesitantly slipped her hand into his. He looked at their linked hands, then at her and back at their hands. Then his gaze circled back to the street and Darcy’s heart skipped when his fingers curved around her small ones and tugged her forward.

“Is your old house still standing?” she asked and he shook his head.

“This street is the same,” he told her softly. “And that barber’s shop is still there. The guy died six years ago. His son runs it now.”

Darcy looked at the closed shutter of the barber shop Steve was pointing at and smiled. “It’s nice that not everything is completely different than how you remember.”

“Yeah,” he said. “The building right beside the barber’s is where I used to live.”

“That one?”

He nodded. “It was small and rickety, and Bucky hated it. Said it would cave in on me one day.” Steve chuckled. “But it was home, you know? I grew up there. Couldn’t just let it go that easily.”

“I’m sure Bucky understood,” said Darcy confidently even though she knew zilch about Bucky Barnes except that he was a soldier and Steve’s best friend.

They stood there for a few more minutes before he tugged at her hand again and she followed him out of his neighborhood in silence. A little further, he must have realized he was still holding her hand because he let go abruptly, his cheeks tingeing pink. To her surprise, Darcy felt herself flush as well. She racked her brain for something to say and went with the first thing that came to mind.

“What did you do after you woke up… here?”

He understood what she was asking. “I scared a female agent, punched a couple of male agents, broke a wall and ran down Times Square in my pajamas.”

Darcy stared at him in disbelief. “You’re joking.”

Steve grinned. “It’s true. I thought I’d been captured. But it turned out they were merely trying to acclimate me to this century.”

Darcy giggled. “Didn’t work out as they planned, did it?”

“Nope.”

“You were paranoid.”

“And rightfully so.”

“Are you still paranoid?”

“I’d like to answer with a no, but the truth is that I am. Sometimes.” He bit his lip and looked down. “That kind of thing… it takes some time to get over.”

Darcy nodded in understanding. “Suppose I can relate. I was jumpy for weeks after the battle with the Dark Elves.”

“Oh yes, I saw the footage.” His eyes twinkled as he said, “You were quite the hero, weren’t you? Running around planting poles right in the middle of all the action.”

Darcy huffed. “I wasn’t planting poles. Those were Gravimetric—” She snorted when she saw the expression on his face. “Troll!”

“Science geek.”

“Adrenaline junky.”

“Lab rat.”

“Ass.”

“Tramp.”

Darcy gasped. “You didn’t!”

He laughed when she punched his arm. “I’m sorry. You’re not a tramp.”

“Damn right!” said Darcy, turning her nose up and trying not to laugh at this exchange.

Something caught her eye in the distance and she pulled Steve toward it. “Oh my, Steve look!”

It was a fountain, enchanting in its small size, clear water and colorful lights flashing beautifully in the round shallow pool around the fountain. Steve told her it had to be a new addition to the area because it hadn’t been there when he had visited last.

“Think this is a wishing fountain?” Darcy asked.

“What makes you say that?”

“I see a couple of cents at the bottom.”

Resting one bare knee on the ledge of the pool, she leaned forward to point them out to him, but the tiles were wet and slippery and, before she knew it, she was falling forward, landing into the water with a comical shriek. For a few terrified seconds, she flapped around helplessly, barely hearing Steve call out her name, then sense finally caught up with her and she sat up, spitting out water. A good portion of her dark hair was plastered over the front of her face and she had to squint through the curtain of her hair to make out an amused Steve standing there with his arm stretched out toward her.

She took his hand and he pulled her out of the pool with ease.

“I don’t know whether to laugh at you or sympathize with you,” he said.

“If you laugh, I’ll paint your uniform pink and sprinkle glitter all over it,” threatened Darcy, unsuccessfully swiping a hand at the hair on her face.

“Let me get that for you,” Steve said softly, stepping closer to her.

“Get what… oh!”

A surprised gasp escaped her when she felt his hand on her cheek. His fingers were warm as he carefully pushed the locks of wet hair from her face, head bent over hers and eyes flitting about following the path of his fingers as they worked over her features. Her skin tingled wherever he touched her and Darcy inhaled sharply when his thumb brushed over her lower lip to catch a stray strand. She swayed closer to him and was unaware of the fact that her hands had found their way to Steve’s waist.

She was treated with a few more caresses here and there as he pushed away the last of the stubborn strands stuck to her damp skin.

“There,” he said finally, strong arms nearly circling her as he combed both hands through her wet hair, from forehead to tips. He squeezed her hair lightly to get rid of the extra water, then straightened and let his searching eyes sweep over her upturned face. “All done.”

Darcy let out an unsteady breath, heart thumping heavily, unable to look away from his intent gaze.

“Are you sure?” she asked huskily.

He let his hands fall to his sides but didn’t step away from her. “Yes.”

Her fingers flexed and Darcy realized her hands were resting on his waist, two digits curled around his belt loop. She didn’t understand what was happening or what she was feeling; all she knew was that she wanted to press closer to him, breathe him in, hug him, press her lips to his neck if he allowed. It didn’t, for a moment, occur to her that this was wrong, that he was just her friend and that he had a crush on that other woman at SI.

She thought she felt the ghost of his hand on her hip when her phone beeped loudly in the silence, breaking the spell. Darcy gasped, jumping back and away from Steve as if she had been burned. Exercising some control over her thoughts, she pulled out her phone from her pocket and stared in dismay at the wet display. Well, at least the phone was still working. She tapped the screen to see a message from Tony.

_How goes the date, science minion? I’m guessing good since I haven’t heard from you.  
\- Daddy_

Darcy sighed and felt like banging her head against a wall. Any more messages from _daddy_ and she would go up there and punch him so hard, he would never be able to screw his head on straight. There was another message from him, this one sent more than an hour ago. But Darcy must have been too occupied in Steve and their non-date to hear the beep. She opened the message.

_So what do you think? Come on, give me details, Darce. Did you like Simon?  
\- Daddy_

Darcy read the message again, her brow creased. Who the hell was Simon? She quickly sent a message to Tony.

_Don’t you mean Steve? You set me up with Steve, you idiot! And you’re not my daddy._

She looked up at a waiting Steve and smiled nervously. “It’s Tony,” she said unnecessarily. “I’m gonna tell him to eff off.”

“What does he say?” The evident interest in his voice gave her a pause. He suddenly looked a bit shifty and Darcy threw him a questioning look, confused by the change in his demeanor.

Her phone beeped again.

_What are you talking about? Simon Reed from HR is your blind date. I told you—tall, blond… wait, are you with Steve right now?_

He had forgotten to type _daddy_ after his message but Darcy barely noticed, her jaw dropping at the message. Simon Reed from HR. Simon Reed. The name was familiar. She racked her brain for a face to go with the name and a gangly blond came to mind. Simon Reed. Flirty Simon Reed. She remembered seeing him a few times in passing but not enough to hold her interest.

 _Simon Reed from HR is your blind date_. Darcy gulped. Something heavy settled in her stomach as the implications of what Tony said registered in her mind. Steve wasn’t her blind date. He had had no idea about it when she had approached him and forced herself upon him at the restaurant. He had probably gone there for some peace, to get away from the noisy, crazy energy of the tower. And she had totally encroached on his private time, immediately assuming that he was her blind date the moment her eyes landed on him. _Oh God_ , she thought, silently cursing her stupidity.

“Hey,” Steve said cautiously, startling her from her morbid thoughts. “Is everything all right?”

Darcy quickly switched off her phone and raised her head to look at him. He had an unreadable expression on his face but she could catch a glimpse of concern in there somewhere. His eyes roved over her, taking in the red spotted blouse sticking to her curves and the denim skirt still dripping water. A shiver ran down her spine when he stepped forward to run a hand down her slick, bare arm.

“You’re all wet,” he said finally.

“And a bit cold, too,” said Darcy hoarsely.

His touch radiated heat. It was difficult not to lean into it, not to burrow herself into his delicious warmth and stay there until her body temperature returned to normal. But, with her brain going haywire with thoughts of the blind date and the _moment_ she had shared with Steve just minutes earlier, Darcy didn’t think it was a good idea to stand too close to him lest it interfere with her rational thinking. Because all she wanted to _do_ at the moment was think; break down and analyze everything—this entire evening—from the beginning.

“I think we should head home,” she said softly.

Steve nodded without argument, removing his hand from her arm and stepping back uneasily. He maintained a reasonable distance from her as they walked back to the restaurant to get his bike. Silence reigned heavily on them the entire way, a stark contrast to the time they had spent chatting at dinner and after that. Darcy wondered if the moment they had shared at the fountain had ruined everything, but she was trying not to dwell on it. A flash of heat shot through her every time she thought about it.

It was confusing. Everything was confusing. Looking back, it was clear that Steve had known about her mistake from the start. He had looked immensely surprised at seeing her at the restaurant, like he was not expecting her or anyone else to join him at all. At the time, she had brushed off his surprise, thinking that Steve, too, was having a hard time believing anyone would ever try to set them up. She should have paid closer attention, because her next clue was his searching gaze that had swept over the restaurant again and again, most likely trying to seek out Darcy’s real date, someone who was sitting alone who could possibly be the one she was supposed to meet. Steve had known all along that she had sat down at the wrong table and yet he hadn’t said anything.

Why?

Why hadn’t he told her that she was making a mistake? That he wasn’t there for a blind date? That Tony was not an idiot and would never set them up because they were _just friends_?

Why had he played along?

And why _in the hell_ wasn’t she angry with him about it? She should call him out, voice her displeasure at what he had done. But despite her best attempt at trying to think like a normal woman would in such a situation, Darcy realized that she was neither disappointed nor angry at Steve.

_Why?_

“Darcy?”

She blinked and looked around to find that they were back to the place where it had all begun. Steve was already straddling his bike and Darcy stood beside him, trying to make sense of the mess that was her brain. She nodded dumbly and placed a hand on his bicep as she swung her foot and climbed behind him. The denim skirt rode up her thighs but that was the least of her worries considering the bigger question at hand. How should she hold him?

Placing her hands lightly on his shoulders was a bad idea because whenever he sped up, her arms circled his neck in a death grip. Eventually, after a huff of laughter from him followed by one of his hands gently coming up to loosen her grip, Darcy readjusted herself and reluctantly wrapped her arms around his torso. As expected, he was incredibly warm and felt so good pressed up against her in such a way that Darcy settled her cheek on his shoulder and closed her eyes. He seemed to not mind that she was wet and cold behind him, and merely drove in silence.

Stark Tower was eerily quiet when they reached. Except for the men who guarded the entrance and one night receptionist, the place was completely deserted. Darcy wondered if Natasha was awake. She desperately needed someone to talk to, and being the closest to Steve, the redhead was Darcy’s best bet at shedding some light on the day’s events. She glanced at Steve walking a step ahead of her and saw wet patches on the back of his shirt. She tried to feel bad about it but couldn’t. What was wrong with her today?

They walked to her room in relative silence. Steve became more and more subdued as they neared and when Darcy opened her door and turned to look at him expectantly, he shuffled his feet and avoided her gaze.

“Darcy, I…” he began. “I have to tell you something.”

Before she could stop herself, Darcy blurted out, “I know.”

His eyes snapped to hers but he didn’t look surprised. “Tony told you.”

Darcy bit her lip and nodded. “Why did you do it?” she asked him, because she would be damned if she let him go without an explanation. “Why did you pretend to be my blind date?”

Steve didn’t reply immediately. Instead he cocked his head and studied her. Darcy fidgeted under his scrutiny. A beat passed before he spoke.

“I should think it’s quite obvious by now.”

Something like hope flared within her at his words and a faint blush painted her cheeks. But his reply still didn’t explain why he had decided to sabotage some other guy’s date to spend the evening with her.

He appeared to have read her thoughts because he sighed and said, “Look, I know the right thing to do is apologize but I’m really not sorry that we got to spend this time together. While that, in no way, excuses my behavior, I hope it’s some consolation that I didn’t see a single fella at the restaurant waiting for someone. And when I didn’t see anyone, I told myself he had stood you up.”

“What if he was killing time with someone else until I came along?” Darcy couldn’t help but ask. “What if he was standing outside the restaurant waiting for me? What if he was sitting in a corner and your eyes slid past his table, not noticing him at all?”

Steve was silent for a moment. “I guess people see what they want to see,” he said softly, echoing her words from earlier. “Or in this case, what they _don’t_ want to see.”

Darcy gaped at him, her mouth slightly open. What was he doing? Why was he saying this? Was she imagining the low timbre of his voice? Why were they standing so close to each other?

She tried to translate her jumbled thoughts into words. “I don’t understand.” Maybe she did. “What are you saying?” Deep down, she knew what he was trying to say. “What about that other woman?” The answer to that question nagged at the back of her mind, but she was too focused on asking questions to pay attention to the answers that she had probably already guessed. “What about…?”

“Darcy,” he interrupted, stepping closer. “Tell me if I’ve misread this situation.”

And then he did something that made her reevaluate all the moments she had spent with him since the day they met. The way he was looking at her wasn’t the first time she had seen that look in his eyes, but it was when he cupped her neck and brushed his lips over her cheek that the pieces started to fall into place. He pulled back a little to look at her searchingly, but any doubts he might have had about her reaction melted away when he felt the weight of her hand on his chest. Darcy didn’t know if the action was voluntary or involuntary but one excuse kept looping around in her head –

A good date should end with a kiss.

And even though, up until now, she had maintained that they weren’t on a date, in that moment, it kinda felt like they _were_. Maybe Steve thought so, too, because he angled his head and leaned toward her. She slid the hand resting on his chest up to gently press down on his nape, meeting him halfway. He made an interesting little noise in the back of his throat and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her snug against him.

It was a simple, close mouthed kiss and Darcy would have described it as chaste if not for the way Steve was holding her. He touched her with a reverence she hadn’t thought any man possessed but his fingers were constantly moving, as if unable to rest in one spot. The hand cupping her neck slid down to her collarbone, lightly tracing it, fingers dipping briefly into her blouse before moving back to massage and squeeze her nape. The hand on the small of her back rubbed and stroked, spanning her waist from one side to another, until Darcy could feel the fabric of her blouse inching out from her skirt. His touch was painfully electric, sending tingles down her spine and making heat coil in the best of places. She couldn’t get enough of it.

A low moan escaped her when he dug his fingers into her waist, briefly squeezing her flesh, before he ended the kiss and straightened. Darcy whined impulsively and followed him, rising up on her tiptoes to reach his mouth. She couldn’t—he was too tall—so she gripped his shoulders and swayed on the spot, keeping her eyes firmly shut. She wasn’t nearly done kissing him yet. She didn’t think she would ever be done with him now.

“Darcy,” he murmured, his thumb stroking her cheek.

“No.”

He huffed out a laugh and, a moment later, his head lowered, letting her catch his lips with hers. Darcy sighed and melted into him again, tightening her hold around his neck to keep him from pulling away this time. She could feel his lips curve into a smile and his chest rumbled with silent laughter that lasted a total of three seconds before her tongue flicked innocently over his bottom lip and all his amusement faded in a heartbeat, replaced by an urgency that had Darcy’s head spinning.

She had never heard him make such a sound before. She had always thought Steve was too sophisticated, too good for that, but here he was, shattering all her illusions and assumptions about him in one fateful evening. She breathed in his crisp masculine scent, fingers involuntarily fisting his hair when he broke the kiss only to reel back in for more. He was into this as much as she was. It was a heady feeling. She knew it was time to end the kiss—it had gone on a bit too long for a first kiss, no thanks to her—but Steve made that sound again and her blood sang. It was a mix between a growl and a moan and it tempted her to try things that would force him to make that sound again. And again. And again—

Steve pulled away, pressing a series of short open-mouthed kisses to her lips before resting his forehead against hers, breathing heavily.

“Come inside with me,” murmured Darcy. Her vision was pleasantly hazy and she felt hot all over. The roar of blood in her ears slowly died as Steve stroked his knuckles over her jaw, a faint smile gracing his features.

“Maybe next time,” he said softly. As if he couldn’t help himself, his mouth found hers again, and he whispered a muffled goodbye against her lips.

Heart racing and eyes blinking rapidly, Darcy stood there looking after him as he walked away. He looked back once, blue eyes lingering on her face, before he disappeared into the elevator. Darcy heaved a sigh and slumped back against the wall in a daze. Her lips still tingled from their kiss and the faint smell of Steve lingered around her, alluring and distracting.

There was something in her hand that wasn’t there before. Darcy looked down to find a paper napkin clutched in her fingers. A restaurant’s name was printed at the bottom in small curvy letters. It was the same napkin Steve had been doodling on before Darcy had interrupted him at the restaurant. She smoothed out the creases and came face to face with a stunning sketch of her own person.

“Oh, Steve,” she whispered, staring in awe at the wavy haired, lush-lipped Darcy in the sketch.

A giddy smile spread across her face as she resisted the overwhelming urge to track him down and kiss him some more. She entered her room on weak knees and shut the door behind her.

There was no way she was getting any sleep tonight.

 

_1 month later_

Darcy marched down the Human Resources floor, intent on speaking to the idiot who had hired Jane’s useless assistant, when a familiar face made her suddenly changed directions. He hadn’t contacted her or Tony after that day, had never sought her out to blame her for a ruined weekend, and she honestly wanted to hide in the supply closet until he left, but Darcy knew that she owed him an apology and she wasn’t one to run from confrontations, no matter how big or small they were.

“Hey,” she called to the gangling man walking ahead of her. “Hey, Reed.”

He looked over his shoulder and grinned when he saw who it was. “Lewis. What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

Darcy bit her lip. He didn’t seem to be angry with her at all. She still needed to apologize to him though.

“I actually wanted to say… um… sorry for standing you up that day,” she said, adding unnecessarily, “In Brooklyn.”

Of all the reactions she had prepared for, Darcy hadn’t expected him to look confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

Had he forgotten already? Or was his hurt ego forcing him to deliberately act oblivious?

“You know, our blind date,” tried Darcy. “Tony Stark set us up… and I never showed up.”

“Mr. Stark set us up,” he repeated slowly, still looking as lost as ever. “Aren’t you dating Captain America?”

Darcy huffed impatiently. “Yes, yes, I am. But…”

“Look, Lewis, if this is some twisted way to get into my pants without anyone knowing…”

Darcy stared at him. Was he stupid?

“… you better forget about it,” he continued. “I’m not going to cheat on Captain America.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” snapped Darcy. “Tony Stark never called you and asked you to go on a date with me?”

“I can’t say that he did,” he responded, looking slightly freaked out. His eyes slid past her and he said abruptly, “But why don’t you ask him? He just stepped out of the elevator.”

Darcy turned and caught sight of Tony immediately. With his nose buried in the tablet in his hand, he exited the elevator, dragging his feet like he always did when distracted. As if he could sense someone watching him, he looked up searchingly until his gaze landed on her. His eyes widened when he saw who she was standing with and his lips formed a single word that Darcy correctly assumed was “Shit!”

Suddenly, all pieces of the puzzle fell into place and, as Tony made a mad dash for the elevator, Darcy hot on his tail, she realized that Tony Stark had played them all.

Darcy was going to kill him. Or hug him. She wasn’t sure yet. She needed to catch him first.

The sneaky bastard!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed the story. Check out the [photo set](http://littleplebe.tumblr.com/post/153443813619/the-blind-date-have-fun-on-your-blind-date-hes) for The Blind Date.


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